AUTHOR: George ENACHE
„JACOB I LOVED”. GALA GALACTION, PAUL THE APOSTLE AND THE CHOSEN PEOPLE
Danubius, XLII, Galati, 2024, pp. 283-334.
Abstract
Gala Galaction was one of the personalities of the Romanian Orthodox Church during the first part of the 20th century. He was fluent in Hebrew and translated the Bible from the original Hebrew text. His political convictions were directed at the democratic left and he considered himself a „pro-Semite”. He had a great openness to the Jewish population in Romania, which he sought to defend many times. For this reason, the anti-Semites within the Romanian Orthodox Church and beyond challenged him harshly.
The study aims to highlight the way in which Gala Galaction related to the „Jewish question” in all its aspects, in interwar Romania. I will investigate how Gala Galaction approached the Jewish tradition, his friendship with many representatives of the Jewish community in Romania, his support for the Zionist cause, his fascination with the Apostle Paul and the Epistle to the Romans, which strengthened his belief that Jews play an essential role in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.